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NHIT Week: Demonstrating the Importance of Health IT

Claire Reilly

Oct 02, 2017

National Health Information Technology Week (#NHITWeek) is taking place this week, October 2-6, 2017. I have seen first-hand the role that technology can play in the healthcare industry and how it can improve the overall experience for both patients and clinicians. For more than a decade, I served as an Emergency Room Charge Nurse at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). I then transitioned to a leadership role at BIDMC designing and implementing electronic health records within the emergency room to improve patient outcomes and clinical workflows. Now, in my current role at Imprivata as a Clinical Workflow Specialist, I help healthcare organizations globally find new ways to implement healthcare technology that streamlines clinical workflows and improves patient safety, all while securely protecting patient health information (PHI).

Earlier this year, I was doing a clinical walkthrough at a large medical center to observe their hospital setting and see where they needed assistance. I was with the associate CMIO, documenting the number of desktop clicks he made in a typical workflow, and he had to keep logging into three different computers while managing three different patients. I asked him what the most inconvenient part of this was, and he explained that he could not take his sessions with him from computer to computer.

I then introduced him to Imprivata Single Sign-On with desktop virtualization, which provides clinicians with a roaming desktop session that securely follows them throughout their shift. Fast and effective, the system gave their staff the ability to increase clinical productivity and focus less on worrying about the technology, and more on the patients they’re caring for.

Its stories like this and so many others that make me proud to say that I work for one of the best health IT companies in the world - a company that focuses on creating customers for life and making a positive impact on the healthcare industry. Technology has the ability to transform the everyday hospital setting by cutting costs and time, improving patient safety, protecting patient data and ultimately saving lives. Imprivata believes in the power of health IT, and that is why NHIT Week is so important to us.